Angels en pointe

The Navy’s aerobatics team performs a dance of delicate danger over Kaneohe Bay

With deafening roars and breathtaking speed, the Navy's Blue Angels performed below light clouds yesterday at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe to the delight of thousands of spectators.

About 54,000 people attended the daylong event, "Blues on the Bay," said Marine Gunnery Sgt. Demetrio Espinoza.

The show featured six F/A-18 Hornet jet fighters and other aerial acts along with cars, military planes and private planes on display.

RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
People found shade under the engines of an Air Force KC-135 plane at Blues on the Bay at Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe, which featured the U.S. Navy Blue Angels.

Before the Blue Angels demonstration, people sat under the shade of planes on the runway or stood to watch the Red Bull helicopter do flips and stalls and paratroopers spiral downward, among other acts.

Gary Strickland, 26, escaped the sun with his wife and 3-year-old son inside the cargo hold of a C-5 Galaxy, the largest aircraft in the Air Force.

"It brings back a lot of memories for me," Strickland said, an Oahu resident and soldier originally from Texas. "We always had stuff like this."

On the loading ramp of the C-5, Malachi Pesta, 4, watched the Blue Angels' support plane, the C-130T Hercules known as Fat Albert Airlines, take off using its eight side rockets.

Older brother Jorry Pesta said he liked Fat Albert's size and noise.

"It's like being in Disneyland, but you're here with planes," said Timothy Manamtam, 8, while holding his toy Blue Angels No. 4 plane. He missed a soccer game to see the Blue Angels.

"I had to make a choice and this is only once a year," said his father, Lloyd Manamtam, a Salt Lake minister. He added that it was a chance for the family to get together before their daughter leaves for college in January.

But not everybody was happy. Kennedy Manamtam, 4, sat in her stroller with her hands to her ears, crinkling her face.

"She doesn't like loud noises," Manamtam said.

The day, however, did have one hang-up for many -- the traffic after the show.

The Blue Angels will fly one more time during the air show between 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. today. The precise time for the Angels was not announced, but they took off shortly after 3 p.m. yesterday. Gates open at 9 a.m.

RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
The U.S. Navy Blue Angels performed a variety of complex maneuvers over Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe during the “Blues on the Bay” event yesterday afternoon. The show also featured the Red Bull stunt helicopter and other aerobatic performances.